This Electric Shelby Daytona Can Hit 60 MPH In 3.4 Seconds

Some 50 years ago, members of Carroll Shelby’s team figured out that if they took a Cobra and gave it some state of the art (1960s standards) aerodynamics, it’d be a world-beater. Hence the Daytona was born.

It did beat the world, making Shelby the first American manufacturer to win a World Constructors' Championship. Now, a California company has taken that same new-tech principle and made the thing electric. It’s called the Renovo Coupe, and you’re gonna wanna see this.

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The car starts out as an actual Shelby—or at least, a continuation model. It has a legit Shelby VIN number (CSX 9000 series), and it’s built by Superformance, a South African company started by the guy who designed much of the original.

In short, it starts life as the best possible Cobra Daytona you could possibly have shy of shelling out millions for an original that you'd never drive on the street. The gauges then offer subtle hints as to what isn’t sitting under the hood.

It’s powered by three separate battery packs that are spaced out across the chassis for better weight distribution in an attempt to avoid some of the handling faults that have plagued some other high performance electric vehicles. Total output is the equivalent of 500 hp, meaning the 3250 pound coupe can hit 60 mph in a truly world class 3.4 seconds.

Renovo hasn’t yet released the anticipated distance per charge, but considering mileage is inversely proportionate to throttle use, it won’t be that much in the real world. Not that you’ll care. With a chassis as proven as this, you’ll only need a few minutes to reach nirvana.

Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor. He's intrigued by the thought of instant torque, and wonders what the tractability is like for a drivetrain like this.